Fenders for boats and ships have generally been known for quite some time, and were developed to preclude damage to the hull or gunwale of a boat or ship tied up to a dock or pier or to another ship. The forces which may develop between adjacent ships, or between ship and pier, due to wave, wind, and tidal action can be enormous and can result in substantial damage to the ship and/or adjacent structure, perhaps even causing the hull of the ship to be punctured and/or the pier to be substantially damaged over a period of time of constant friction and interference between the ship and other structure. The fenders which have been developed in response to this problem, generally allow a fair amount of movement between ship or boat hull and adjacent structure, without damage to either. In fact, the fenders are generally suspended from the ship or structure, and are allowed a fair amount of movement, to absorb the relative movement between ship or boat and adjacent structure.
More recently, a relatively new class of very small personal watercraft has been developed, which may seat only one or two riders and which ride very low on the water. Examples of such craft are the Sea-Doo.TM. manufactured by the Bombardier Company of Canada, and the Jet Ski.TM.. Such personal watercraft are generally considered the approximate equivalent of waterborne motorcycles, and are generally powered by small but powerful inboard engines completely enclosed in the hull and small superstructure. The maximum dimensions of the hull of such craft, at what might be considered the equivalent of the gunwale between hull and superstructure, is generally only some six to eight inches above the waterline.
As such craft ride very low in the water, ease of access to larger boats is somewhat limited. Often, the only convenient point to tie up and board a larger boat from a personal watercraft, is by means of the swim platform of such a boat, if so equipped. Quite often, larger boats and yachts are equipped with such a swim platform, which enables a swimmer to stand only a foot or so above the water level, rather than having to dive from the boat rail some several feet to the water, and to climb back up the side of the hull several feet to board the boat after swimming.
However, such swim platforms were never originally intended to provide for the securing of another small boat or personal watercraft thereto, however convenient they may be for such use. Swim platforms generally have relatively hard edges and corners to provide a good grip for swimmers, and such features can cause substantial damage, at least cosmetically, to the gel coat finishes of fiberglass watercraft structures when such a watercraft is secured to a swim platform.
Generally, swim platforms are not provided with any fenders, as they were never intended for securing another boat thereto. Similarly, personal watercraft are generally provided with only a simple rub strip of limited resilience along the gunwale, just above the waterline. This relatively narrow protective strip is incapable of protecting a personal watercraft from damage from the edge of another relatively narrow structure, such as the edge of a swim platform, when the craft and platform are in relative motion to one another due to wave and wind action. The motions may be relatively small, due to the small sizes of the two craft, but nevertheless will allow at least a portion of the hull of a watercraft to drift under the platform, where the upper portion of the watercraft hull can be damaged substantially, at least cosmetically.
Accordingly, a need will be seen for fenders for watercraft, which are removably but substantially immovably attachable to various watercraft structures to preclude their floating and shifting to expose the underlying structure. In one embodiment, the fenders must be adapted to provide for removable attachment to different types of swim platforms, and must not allow relative shifting of position between fender and platform. In another embodiment, the fender must be adapted for removable attachment to a personal watercraft, such as a Jet Ski.TM., again with means provided to preclude movement of the fender relative to the watercraft. At least the personal watercraft fender embodiment must also be foldable, in order to provide for compact storage within the conventional storage compartment of such personal watercraft.